There were less than sixty hours left until the Edwards family dinner on Wednesday night as written on the invitation. Even though it was still raining heavily outside, no one could stop to rest.
The good news is that the drainage system of Green Lake City near the lake is quite good. Even though the city is old, the ancient sewer system still plays a very good role. This morning, the six witches gathered at the Green Lake Hotel to discuss plans for Wednesday night with Shade, Yin Luna and Luvia.
Not only did they bring items corresponding to the power of the ancient gods prepared for Durut Giles and Rust Edwards, they also handed over a letter from the Dragon Feast Order to Shade.
The meeting time for the cultists to meet the "God Caller" is 9 o'clock tonight. If it rains, the meeting place will be at the Barking Dog Tavern in Black Dog Lane in the slums southeast of Green Lake City. If it does not rain tonight, the meeting place will be on the first floor of the Railway Station Hotel northeast of the Michaela Blast Furnace Railway Station.
When they meet, the representative of the Dragon Feast will have a silver dragon head-shaped brooch on his chest, while the "Godcaller" will need to appear wearing two gold and silver rings.
"According to divination, although this rain won't always be this heavy, it will at least last until the weekend. This is not ordinary rain, it is caused by an abnormal space phenomenon caused by a space rift. Therefore, it will definitely rain tonight."
Luvia, a fortune teller, said after learning the contents of the letter, and the witches asked Shad if he needed someone else to accompany him to meet the cultists.
"No need, I can go by myself."
The citywide blockade that began yesterday morning was lifted in the early hours of this morning. On this rainy Monday, the citizens of the city continued their lives in silence, but everyone could smell the atmosphere that was even more terrifying than during the negotiations.
Both De La Rion and Carson Rick, in the front pages of Monday's newspapers, publicly condemned the brutal stabbing that took place on Sunday and expressed their opinions on the conflict that broke out on the border between the two countries yesterday.
Now the armies of the two countries are gathering towards the Green Lake area. At the same time, the royal families of the two countries have publicly stated that they will temporarily recall the negotiation delegations to protect the safety of the negotiating representatives.
Although the two countries made slow progress in the negotiations, they moved quickly on the issue of the negotiators evacuating the Green Lake area. This morning, when Miss Carina came with Tifa in the rain, she said that they had already started packing their luggage and would leave the local area by train and return to Tobesk tomorrow morning.
"I'm finally going to be free and no longer have to attend those meaningless meetings every day."
The Duchess was very happy about this, but she would not really leave. Not only would she stay secretly, but all the maids including Tifa, Resia and even Ajelina would also stay.
Lecia stayed because Shad was worried that she would come back even if she left, and Ajelina stayed because Miss Carina wanted her to see the world and figure out what she would have to face once she became a witch apprentice before she truly awakened.
Similarly, although Margaret will nominally return to Willendel City with the negotiation delegation, she will actually stay with Miss Sylvia and Miss Benannis to participate in the Battle of Green Lake as an official witch apprentice.
It would take two or three days for both sides to return to the capital by steam train. During this period, the battle of Green Lake would be completed. When the space was stable, Miss Sylvia would open the portal to send everyone back.
Of course, this is the best case scenario. But if the situation at the Battle of Green Lake is not ideal... ... The witches naturally have different plans.
For the city and ordinary people, they don't know what all this is about, they can only feel that the atmosphere in the city is more terrifying and depressing. During lunch, Shade also discussed with the witches at the table the news in the newspaper this morning and the military operations in the Green Lake area that they heard from various sources.
Although the current military mobilization is to cover up the church's many actions in the future, no one can guarantee that the two countries can really be at peace. After all, the negotiations have not been completed and have temporarily ended. Even if Delarion and Carsonrick will definitely not take any action before Wednesday, once the Green Lake incident is over and the church no longer interferes in the affairs of the two countries, it is really hard to say what will happen next.
Dark clouds loomed over the Green Lake area. Although the Great Witch of Time would not come to Green Lake City immediately due to the unanimous opposition of the witches, the Council still attached great importance to the safety of Megan and Audrey. Knowledge information, spellcasting materials, potions, alchemical items and even relics, the Great Witch of Time opened the Council's treasures to the six witches in Green Lake City.
Thus, some interesting and potentially useful relics were delivered to the Green Lake Hotel on this day.
After lunch, just as Shade finished reading the secret letter from the Dragon Feast Cult, Audrey smiled and took Shade's hand to the basement:
"Come with me. I have something important to do. It has to do with the arrangements of the Council."
The dim light from the ritual made the basement not dark at all. Compared with the previous storage of vegetables and grains, the basement now seemed to be larger. Audrey asked the girls guarding the core of the ritual to leave temporarily. Shad was curious about what she wanted to say, but unexpectedly Audrey turned around and hugged and kissed him.
Xia De wasn't sure whether she had something on her mind that made her suddenly pull him here, but he still responded to the enthusiastic girl.
And when the kiss ended, Audrey smiled and told the reason:
"Shad, did you notice something was wrong just now?"
Shade thought for a moment:
"Um... ... what do you mean exactly... ... you are actually someone else pretending to be you?"
“It was a success.”
Audrey said, and then Shad heard a sound coming from the wall of the basement. Then, a cabinet standing by the wall opened, and Miss Carina came out.
The cabinet was a wooden wardrobe, standing there without any attraction. Shade had not even noticed the existence of this piece of furniture before the Duchess appeared. But when he noticed the wardrobe, he immediately felt weird. In Shade's opinion, it would not be surprising if an evil spirit rushed out of this cabinet after it was opened. This thing was something that only appeared in horror novels.
What surprised him even more was that Miss Carina had obviously been in the cabinet the whole time, but he didn't notice it at all. Even the heat of the badge on his chest only increased after the cabinet was opened.
"Audrey, I only remember you telling me to hide in there and have Shad come over to see if he could find me. I don't remember you letting me watch you two kissing in there."
The Duchess was furious, but Audrey smiled and said:
"This way the test will be more accurate. You see, Shade really didn't find anything."
Having said that, without giving the Duchess a chance to continue complaining, he took Shade's hand and introduced the cabinet:
"Secret Keeper-level relic - Hide-and-seek closet. Open it and hide inside. The person inside can see outside through the crack in the closet door and hear the sounds outside. It is difficult for people outside to notice that there is someone in the closet. At the same time, the closet itself has a similar effect to your magic of turning into an angel statue, so it is difficult to attract other people's attention."
Audrey opened the automatically closed cabinet door again, letting Shade see that there was nothing inside:
"Although it is only at the Secret Keeper level, it is a top-notch hidden relic. Although while hidden in the cabinet, you cannot cast spells in any way, nor are you allowed to interfere with the outside world in any way, you can only see and hear, and the cabinet has no defense, but other than that, it has almost no disadvantages."
"Don't forget the negative characteristics. Once the cabinet is opened, it will actively attract people to crawl in and close the door. While hiding in the cabinet, people will involuntarily think, 'It's dangerous outside, so I'll just hide here and never go out.'"
The red-haired Duchess crossed her arms and said, although she was a little angry about Audrey's behavior just now, she didn't care about such a little joke:
"This is a relic collected by the Council. It is said to be created in the Fourth Era. One day, a child playing hide-and-seek hid in an old, long-abandoned wardrobe and fell asleep. The servants accidentally blocked the door of the wardrobe with miscellaneous items. When people opened the wardrobe in the basement, the child inside had turned into a mummy."
The corner of Xia De's mouth twitched:
“Do all these relics have this kind of strange origin story?”
There were no scratches on the inside of the cabinet, but there was an indelible sentence written on the top with what looked like a fountain pen:
The world is dangerous, stay and hide with me.
"I doubt whether there are still vengeful spirits attached to it... Audrey, do you want me to hide here and then go to the island with you? But isn't this wardrobe too big?"
Xia De asked the witch next to him again, and Audrey shook her head:
"You have to try all the methods. If you turn into a stone statue, you can avoid being seen. Then, if you turn into a stone statue and hide, it will be safer. It's hard to say whether I can carry this wardrobe with me, but it will definitely be okay to try."
"We have prepared three relics with similar functions, and the other two are on the way. They will arrive tonight or tomorrow morning. Don't underestimate the strength of the Council, Shade. The Council is definitely more powerful than you think."
Miss Carina also said that. Shade nodded, held down the cat on his shoulder that wanted to run into the closet, and took two steps back to look at it. If this closet could be smaller, it would be perfect. But the size, size and appearance of the relics have always been difficult to change. This is the basic rule of these items with whispering elements attached. Otherwise, Shade would have found a way to shrink the Night Watchman so that he could carry it at any time.
"Is there any way to deal with it? I mean, if someone uses this relic against us, how are we going to find this wardrobe?"
He asked casually again. Audrey, who knew more about this relic, thought about it:
"This wardrobe can only be used for eavesdropping and peeping, so even if it is used, it will not be dangerous to us. As for discovering it, it is very simple. For a ring warlock who knows about this relic, as long as he concentrates and is not distracted, and comes into contact with it several times, he will gradually be able to resist its effects to a certain extent. After all, it is only at the Secret Keeper level."